President
Muhammadu Buhari vowed late Tuesday in Riyadh that all those involved in the
“padding” of the 2016 National Budget will face the most severe punishment.
Addressing the
Nigerian Community in Saudi Arabia, President Buhari condemned the distortion
of the budget proposals by entrenched interests.
The President said
that the unauthorised alterations had completely changed the document from
the one he presented to the National Assembly.
“The culprits will not
go unpunished. I have been a military governor, petroleum minister, military
Head of State and headed the Petroleum Trust Fund.
“Never had I heard the
words “budget padding”. Our Minister of Budget and National Planning did a
great job with his team. The Minister became almost half his size during the
time, working night and day to get the budget ready, only for some people to pad
it.
“What he gave us was
not what was finally being debated. It is very embarrassing and disappointing.
We will not allow those who did it to go unpunished," President Buhari
vowed.
The President also
assured members of the Nigerian community that his administration was working
diligently to fulfil its campaign promises, particularly on security,
unemployment, and corruption.
Reaffirming his
government’s zero tolerance for corruption, President Buhari said that the war
against corruption was a monumental task that he is determined to tackle
successfully.
"We have zero
tolerance for corruption and other unethical practices. We will deal decisively
with anybody found wanting," he promised members of the Nigerian
community.
President Buhari also
used the opportunity of the gathering to brief Nigerians in Saudi Arabia on his
administration’s efforts to end the Boko Haram insurgency and terrorism in
Nigeria.
"Our armed forces
have done a great job of dealing decisively with Boko Haram. We are
collaborating with our
neighbors in the operations of the Multinational Joint Task Force to handle
security threats in the sub-region and we have significantly destroyed
the capacity of the insurgents," the President said.
He also spoke on
efforts being made to diversify the Nigerian economy, stressing that more
opportunities are now open for local and foreign investors in the country.
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